Tuesday, May 30, 2006

My Sewing Area - the before photo


I have to share what we colloquially call 'the play room' with the kids tv, the PS2 and the computer bench.

The room is about 17foot by 8ft6inches and has a full width deep bench at the opposite end to this photo with the house pc, my husbands lap top, the kids tv up on the wall and the ps2.

Basically it's sort of 'the den'.

My sewing area is the end of the room under the window for the best light and is currently a bit of a mish mash of cobbled together work surface, mini chests of drawers, book case etc.

However DH has plans afoot to turn this into a compact and workable space where I can stitch and create to my hearts content.

We acquired a long deep worktop (matching the one at the other end with all the computer gubbings on it) from Nigel's work when they stripped out one of the old buildings before demolition. He intends to run it the whole width of the room at stitching/machine height under the window.

Then to the right hand end behind the door he will 'persuade' one of the carpenters at work to construct a box arrangement the size of my A1 cutting board to bring up the height to a comfortable level for rotary cutting but with a large perspex window set into the top and a light underneath to make a light box - essential for all that celtic knotwork.

He's also been investigating in the mini-loft above the window ( we have a little dormer type arrangement on the front of that side of the house) and has discovered the joists run in the direction he'd hoped to enable him to change the lighting to give me better light to stitch at night as at present I have the 'Heath Robinson' discarded standing lamp arrangement you see in the photo - functional but not pretty!

The only stalling point is the only radiator in the room that sits under the window and is shielded by my workstation which makes the room quite chilly - good job I stitch so quickly to keep my hands from freezing up :o) Keeps my knees warm though!

The radiator will have to be moved round the corner to the left opposite the door as I neglected to tell you that the wall next to the door will have to house a small sofa-bed as this room also serves as our spare room for visitors

Definitely multi-purpose this room.

Not sure when all this will happen - particularly because of the heating changes but fortunately my DH is one of those guys who, once he's got the bit between his teeth, likes to run with ideas and get on with them - thank goodness.

I am particularly proud of this photo as I had just had a good tidy up (don't laugh) - most unusual, you generally can't see the machine for fabric piled all round it. Sadly due to lack of space all my stash is up in the loft in removal company extra strong cartons and not so easily accessible - have to smile sweetly at DH or DD1 to bring down the relevant coloured box when I want to start something new.

One can only dream - when we win the lottery and get that house with the enormous studio and the vast model train room :o)

5 comments:

Lily Mulholland said...

Hey Anne - thanks for the comment over on my blog :)

You're the first UK quilter I've 'met'. I just saw in one of your posts that you're jobhunting. Me too. Rejection letters are flooding in - I'm not even getting interviews. It's hard to not take it personally. HOwever, I've found that you miss out on the jobs that wouldn't have actually suited and then magically along comes the perfect job! It's happened to me more times than I can count. I hope it happens for you too :)

KC Quilter said...

Loved the view of your sewing space. I am still working on reorganizing mine and have decided it is a never-ending job! The train ride looks like great fun!

Sue Seibert said...

I only wish my workspace looked that neat! The plans sound awesome. Good luck.

Unknown said...

Don't you kid yourself that it'll stay that neat - but I am trying if only on the grounds that, if I keep it reasonably neat, when DH decides to start the remodelling it won't be a big job to clear the area - hey, who am I kidding?

Patty said...

my sewing table is always filled with mounds of fabric. Yours looks very tidy compared to mine right now but will have to do something with it before I go away. Hate to come home to clutter